Shorey in Line for England Start?

If you read into England manager Steve McClaren's thoughts it could appear that Nicky Shorey could be in line for another England start this Saturday against Estonia.

With the big one with Russia to follow the Wednesday after, with so many players a booking away from suspension Steve McClaren could look to rest several players, including Nicky Shorey's main left back rival Ashley Cole, to prevent them being booked and missing the crucial Russia match.

Steve McClaren told the BBC, "It is a consideration. We have to look at the bigger picture as well as the smaller one.

"We have quite a few players on bookings: John, Rio and Ashley.

"I have to take that into account and ask myself if I want to risk losing someone?

"It means picking a team for Estonia is not an entirely straightforward issue - there are other factors involved as well.

The priority however is to ensure that victory is achieved over Estonia, a match that England should win, but you never know so he may stick with the main men just in case and hope they avoid a booking, "Clearly our priority is to win and avoid dropping points at home as we did against Macedonia," Steve McClaren also told the BBC.

"If we slip up against Estonia then Russia is going to be irrelevant."

I would think that Nicky Shorey will start the Estonian game as he has already shown that he has the quality needed, so this will not be a risk at all, and it will ensure that Ashley Cole, who is the main man we all know this, will not pick up a booking and miss the Russian match.

However, should Nicky Shorey do particularly well he could keep his place anyway.

Join Vital Reading

It's easy to register, simply click the link and enjoy getting involved as the season unfolds!